The National Theatre of Scotland is to mark its third birthday by staging eight new community-based shows across the country as well as giving every secondary pupil a chance to watch its biggest hit, Black Watch.
The National Theatre of Scotland is to mark its third birthday by staging eight new community-based shows across the country as well as giving every secondary pupil a chance to watch its biggest hit, Black Watch.
Officials said yesterday that eight of its community-theatre projects, collectively called Transform, will operate in Fife, Dumfries, Barrhead in Renfrewshire, Moray, Orkney, Caithness, Aberdeen and Glasgow.
In each, a team of artists from the National Theatre will work in residence, working with secondary schools and local groups to produce new, full scale productions in their area.
On a smaller scale to the NTS's headline productions such as Black Watch, The Bacchae or Be Near Me, they will also be performed in some uncommon venues: the event in Fife will be set in the Pilmuir Works, the former Dunlop Factory in Dunfermline, while the event in Caithness, to be directed by Black Watch director John Tiffany, will be in an "unusual location" in Thurso.
The NTS is also allowing every state secondary to own a DVD of Black Watch filmed being performed in the Highland Football Academy in Dingwall, along with the BBC's Bafta-winning documentary, A Soldier's Story.
Because of the repetitive use of strong language in Black Watch, written by Gregory Burke, however, the DVD has been given a certificate of 18, meaning it is deemed too adult for almost all pupils.
However, the NTS still believes it will be of use to teachers, who will have the choice of using the material or not.
A spokeswoman for NTS said it was down to teachers and schools to judge how best to use the material in the Black Watch resource pack, which also includes the full script, background material, behind-the-scenes footage, and other information.
"We leave it up to them how they wish to use the material, we leave it up to teachers to use their judgment," she said. The packs have been funded by the NTS with support from John Williams Productions, a DVD production and distribution company based in Glasgow.
Vicky Featherstone, NTS artistic director, said the Transform shows were at the heart of the work the theatre does. So far the education element of NTS, called Learn, has involved 74,000 participants, 3000 workshops, and 85 schools in 26 of local authority areas.
"It is all about potential, the potential of theatre, potential of Scotland, but also it is really about the potential of individual people to grasp an opportunity to change their lives," she said.
Simon Sharkey, associate director of the NTS, said of the free Black Watch materials: "It continues the golden thread of tradition that is so much part of what the characters in Black Watch talk about.
"It has been a cultural phenomenon, and now we have this pack which we hope will help people studying the play.It also archives the play for at least the next two decades. Every pupil will now have access to this resource."
The NTS also announced that nine youth theatre groups will be brought together for a festival called Exchange at the Macrobert in Stirling from July 7 to 11.
Black Watch is now generally regarded as one of the landmark productions in recent Scottish theatre history. It has been nominated for five awards in the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards, due to be announced on March 8.
Burke's play concerns the soldiers of the historic Scottish regiment, its history, and its engagements in the Iraq war. At the Olivier awards it has garnered a nod for John Tiffany, as well as nominations in the categories of best new play and best company performance, all from its run at the Barbican in London. It also received nominations for sound design, and Steven Hoggett for choreography.
